Evanescent
by R.J.North
Summary: Alex thought things would get back to normal when she got her brothers and friend back. But as life goes on things aren't completely right. What's wrong? Is there anything Alex can do to make it right? Part 4 of the Guardian Saga.
1. The Long Ride

Okie dokie. Here's chapter one. The guys aren't really in this one. It's just some one-on-one Alex/John time. I figured I'd do something light to ease into the season. Hope you enjoy. Please review!

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><p>Chapter 1<br>"The Long Ride"

It had been a couple days since Alex had returned back to Earth with her terrapins and Master Splinter. When they landed in the lair, Alex found her brothers and Fred there, all unconscious. April, Casey and Leatherhead were frantically running around the lair not really knowing what to do to help the boys. When they arrived, it scared the crap out of them. Then the two older humans and the largest mutant had the injured to freak out about.

They finally decided it was best for them to all head up to Casey's grandmother's place up in the Hamptons. It was a quite peaceful place for them to all heal up and relax. April and Casey took the van and the trailer with the guys in it while Alex called John to help bring her, her brothers and Fred.

The car ride was eerily silent. For most of the ride John didn't take his brown eyes off of the road. His lips were pierced together and his brow knit together. Alex could tell Blake was freaked out about the events she had told him about, her injuries and the unknown people in the back of his car (now all dressed in street clothes thanks to Casey). All of which were unconscious; three were seated in the back seat (her brothers) while Fred was in the open aired trunk of the SUV.

"You almost died," he finally said.

"Yeah," Alex sighed.

"Yeah?" he repeated. "_Yeah_? That's all you can say to that?"

"What do you want me to say?" Alex asked calmly. She turned her head away from the window of the passenger's side and to John. "That I'm sorry? That I regret my actions? I'd be lying if I did.

"I got them back, John," she said. "My brothers will be able to go back to their old lives now. Fred can be a normal kid again! And most of all we stopped the Shredder; an alien that killed about _4.2_ _million_ _innocent_ _people_, John! I'm not sorry about what I did because we did good. I'd do it again too. And if I died, then so be it. I think it was worth saving millions more lives."

John sighed. "I know," he said. "I know. You're right. I would have done the same thing. It's just…"

"You were worried," Alex finished for him.

John shook his head, his grip on the wheel tightening so much that his fists turned white. "Worried? Try _petrified_!"

"I'm sorry," she said. "I may not be sorry for my actions, but I never want to purposefully hurt you, John. You know that, right?"

"Yeah," he said. "I know. And I'm proud of you, you know that?" He ruffled her hair, causing her to wince as he hit part of the bruise on the side of her head. "Sorry," he said before continuing. "And I'm glad you got your brothers and friend back."

"Thanks," she said with a small smile.

"Not to make this all about me or anything," John said, "but now that you've got all three of your older brothers back, does that mean you don't still need one more around?"

Alex raised a brow, completely confused. "John, you think I'd abandon you?"

"Well, we're not actually related and you do have your family back," he started to say.

"_John_," Alex said, stopping him. "I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me for the rest of your life, Blake!"

John smirked. "Good, I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Oh," Alex said. "I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Shoot, Firecracker," he said.

"What the heck was up with you checking out Ms. Parker?" she asked.

"What are you talking about?" John asked.

"Oh, don't play dumb!" Alex laughed, groaning right afterwards because of the discomfort it caused her. "I saw you do it!"

"I wasn't _checking her out_," he protested. "I was checking her _over_ to make sure she wasn't _hurt_. That's all!"

"Yeah, I _so_ don't buy that," Alex said. "You were checking her out. Period."

"Fine!" he admitted. "Can you blame me?"

"Nah, she is pretty," Alex agreed.

"Pretty? Yeah, but more like she's rocking the whole _sexy librarian_ thing," John corrected. "I'm telling you if I had her as a teacher I would be teacher's pet, if you get what I mean. That thought was stuck in my head the rest of the day!"

"_Ew_!" Alex gagged. "Mental image not necessary!" She shivered. "Ah, dude, _scarred_ for life!"

"Get used to it, Alex," John said. "You're growing up. This is what you have to look forward to. Men and their hormones." The second he said that his face contorted. "On second thought, the moment a guy looks at you, I'll kill him."

"John!"

"What?"

"Three overprotective older brothers and now an honorary overprotective older brother? I'd hate to imagine if the guys found out someone was interested in me," Alex said, shaking her head. "I'm never going to get married!"

"No, we just have to approve of him first," John said. "And no sex until after you're thirty!"

"John!"

"What?" he asked. "Hey, no hitting the driver! What have I told you?"

"A lot of things?" Alex said wisely.

John rolled his eyes. "You are such a pain, Firecracker!"  
>"Yeah, but you love me," Alex said.<p>

"Why do I love you again?"

"Because I have a _charming_ personality," Alex laughed, ignoring the pain. "That and I kick butt!"

"You are such a weirdo," he laughed.

"I never claimed anything different," she said. "But back on topic! You're going to have competition if you want to go out with Ms. Parker."

"Who said anything about going out with her?" he asked.

"I did," Alex said. "I can tell you're interested."

"So what if I am?" he retorted. "I mean, she's obviously intelligent and extremely good looking."

"Don't forget _clumsy_," Alex said. "You could save her from herself and be her knight in blue polyester!"

"I'm not an officer anymore. I don't wear the uniform."

"Technicality."

"That's enough out of you."

"Nuh-uh, we are not done talking about this," she said. "You have competition! Don't you want to know about them?"

"Them?" John asked. "There's more than one?"

"Well look at her!" Alex pointed out. "All of the single teachers are after her, and half of the married ones!"

"Mhm," he hummed.

"But you really only have to worry about two," she told him. "Maybe three, but she always seems annoyed with Mr. Clark, so I wouldn't worry about him."

"Is that so, kiddo?"

"Yeah," Alex said. "You remember my history teacher, right? Mr. Sam Wesson?"

Emily was right. Mr. Wesson was extremely good looking. He was very tall, which was kind of weird considering that Ms. Parker wasn't the tallest, but he was very muscular with slightly longer brown hair and to die for blue puppy dog eyes.  
>"You have him and Mr. Smith, my PE teacher," she added. "Dean Smith is also extremely fine to look at. He's shorter than you are, but extremely muscular. He's got short dirty blond hair and green eyes. Emily says he's sex on a stick."<p>

"Yeah, okay, I did _not_ need to hear that!" John said.

"That's just payback for your comment earlier," Alex said.

"Okay so there goes any chance I'd have with her. I mean, I've seen Mr. Wesson. There's no way she'd pass that up. Or the other guy, from what you say. What reason would she have to pick me?"

"Because you're awesome," Alex said. "And you're really good looking too. You don't give yourself enough credit."

And he didn't. John was the tall, dark and handsome type. He had extremely dark, warm brown eyes that always made Alex feel safe, protected and cared for. He had short dark brown hair and was also tall, about 6'2" which made him taller than Dean but shorter than Sam. He had a smooth, clean face. He was very good looking.

"Didn't you say she was young?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, she's twenty-one," Alex said. "Why?"

"Aren't I a little old for her then?"

"You're only twenty-eight," she said.

"Twenty-nine," he corrected.

"What? I missed your birthday?" she exclaimed.

"Hey, don't worry about it," he said. "I just went out and had a couple drinks with Longer. Nothing big."

"I still would have gotten you something," Alex said.

"I don't need anything," he said.

Alex stuck her tongue out at him and looked back out the window. "But eight years isn't _that_ bad. Who cares about age?"

"_She_ might," he said.

"Yeah, but if it does Mr. Wesson and Mr. Smith don't have a chance with her either. Wesson's twenty-eight and Smith's thirty-two, but she doesn't seem like to type to be bothered by a large age difference."

"Okay, so there's the age doesn't matter, but that doesn't mean I really have a chance."

"Of course you have a chance!" Alex insisted. "Why wouldn't you?"

"I don't know," he said. "You tell me. What are the guys like?"

"Well, Mr. Smith's kind of a player, he's funny and cool, but he's best friends with Mr. Wesson, so he has to be a good person. Plus, Ms. Parker thinks of him as a friend so he has to be nice! Mr. Wesson's more mellow. He'd be the kind of guy to sit at home and read with. He's really nice and smart."

Alex saw that John was about to say something negative about himself so she jumped in again. "But you're extremely sweet and funny. You're protective and it makes people feel safe with you. Plus, she was totally checking you out too."

"Wait what?" he asked excitedly and shocked. His brown eyes looked to her, pleading her to tell him. "She was?"

"Yeah," Alex answered. "I even asked her about it. She was extremely embarrassed and she denied it, but she stuttered so much that it was obvious that she was."

"Really?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," Alex said. "See, you have a shot with her! Don't sell yourself short."

"Okay, okay, I get it. Be confident," he laughed.

"Yes, stupid. Be confident!"

"What? I'm stupid? How am I supposed to be confident if you keep putting me down!" He joked. "Hey, no hitting!"


	2. Cousin Sid

So whenever I start another part for this story, I make a new word document for it so that the originals are up in the thousands in page numbers, but what I really hate about doing it the way I do is that whenever I start a new one, I always try and open the last one I had and I'm like, "Wait, I'm in the wrong place!" and then I have to close and open the other and I do this for like the first five chapters.  
>Not that any of that is important to any of you, but I figured I'd rant because I don't really have anything better to say up here today.<br>Anyway! How you guys like the chapter even though it's a little short. I just didn't really feel this episode. Hope you like and please review!

Thanks go out to the following for thier reivews on the previous chapter:

**_StillDoll13 _**- Jashton, yes! I know I ship them hard...Can I ship them that hard if I'm the one that created them? And you'll just have to see how they all eventually interact with one another. ;) In the other world they seemed to get along fine, but who knows. That was another world, after all. Mwahahah  
><strong><em><span>NYCelt <span>_**- I know. I love their relationship. I didn't plan on using him this often when I first created him, but I love where's it's gone.  
><strong><em>Kat03 <em>**- I'm so glad you liked it! Hope you like the chapter!  
><strong><em><span>TMNTluckygirl <span>_**- Thanks, English sister! And I love Jaston too. They're great!  
><strong><em><span>TMG14899 <span>_**- Ooooh, yeah, you are so going to have to wait and see how everything plays out. Some you may like, some you might not...But I'm not telling!  
><strong><em>erica. phoenix16 <em>**- Thanks! Hope you like the chapter!  
><strong><em><span>Katie <span>_**- I'm so glad you like it. I really didn't want one of those stories wher they automatically have an attraction to the love interest. I wanted their relationship to grow and develope.  
>OH MY GOD YES! Yes, it is a Supernatural reference and so far you have been the only one to indicate that they have figured that out. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I just started the series a cuople months ago and I'm just about to start season 7 (so no spoilers!), but I just love the guys so much that I figured I could adopt them into this somehow. I hope you like it. And I'm doing a side story for John and Ash (That's Parker's first name; Ashton) so if you're interested, at some point there will be a story where they are very reoccuring characters. Right now I only have about a page of it written, this story is my main focus right now so it won't be for a while, but if you're interested, let me know. And your review totally made my night. Thank you so much!<p>

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><p>Chapter 2<br>"Cousin Sid"

With the help of Casey and John, all four teenage human boys were placed on cots upstairs. The human boys were all still unconscious and would most likely be for quite some time. It had take Alex a couple days to wake back up when they reversed the effect on her and she had only been hit with the ray for a couple weeks. The boys? They had been under it for more than a year! It would take longer than a couple days for them to wake up.

But they would wake up. Mortu assured her of that. And she would get her family and friend back!

They had lucked out when the Utrom got there. That was for sure. But Alex couldn't have been happier. She had her Terrapin family, as well as her human family. They were all back and in one piece, for the most part. They were injured, but they were all still alive. That was so much more than Alex could have ever asked for.

When Leo told her about their plan, Alex honestly thought she wasn't going to make it through the mission. She didn't care what happened to her, which was reckless and stupid of her, but it was how she felt. As long as everybody else, the people she cared about, were okay and safe, she was fine with it.

But now she actually had a chance to live with everybody. Things could go back to normal, or as normal as they got with Alex and her friends. She as a freaking teenage ninja girl, after all. How normal could her life be?

After getting the boys upstairs, John helped Alex down the stairs to the living room. She sat down in one of the dining room chairs that had been moved in.

John kissed her on the top of the head and said, "I've got to head out. I've not work in the morning, but call me tomorrow and tell me how everyone is."

"I will," she said. "Promise. I'll keep you updated."

"Okay," he kissed her head one more times. "Get some rest, Firecracker."

"Goodnight!" she told him.

"Bye guys!" John said to the group. "Heal up!"

There were various echoes of goodbye as Detective Blake left.

"All right," April said. "Who's hungry?"

Everybody declared that they were except for Leo. Alex glanced over at the leader. He was standing over by the window. He was looking into the night, almost searching, but Alex had no idea what he would be searching for. Everybody was there.

"Leo?" April asked.

When he didn't answer her, Master Splinter thought it his place to ask. "Leonardo?"

"I'm fine," he answered a moment later.

Hearing the tone of his voice, Alex felt he was far from fine.

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><p>Casey and April had just helped Raph and Mikey up the stairs with Don trailing right behind them. Master Splinter was sitting at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for April or Casey to come back down to assist him up. Alex was still downstairs, having moved to the couch. Leo was still standing beside the window, not having participated in dinner or dinnertime conversation.<p>

Something wasn't right. Alex knew it. Leo wasn't acting like himself and it was worrying her. He wasn't eating. He wasn't talking. He wasn't even looking at any of them. All he was doing was staring out the window. She knew something was wrong and she had to help him. He had given her back so much. She had to at least try.

Alex got up from her spot on the couch and moved behind Leo. "Leo?" Alex asked. He didn't turn to look at her whatsoever. She narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Hey," she said. She took his head in one of her hands and directed him to look at her. "Look at me, Leo." His face may have been facing her, but his eyes were still looking out the window. "Talk to me, Leo."

Leo gently placed his hand on the hand she had on his cheek. She smiled gently, feeling as if he was finally going to look at her and tell her what was bothering him. But a moment after she thought that, he removed her hand from his face and turned his body away from her, looking out the window once more. She sighed, letting her hand drop back to her side. She was going to have to think of another way to get Leo to open up.

If Alex hadn't been so determined to get her brothers back at any cost, she most likely would have been in the same boat that Leo was in. All of them had almost died, willingly, to defeat the Shredder. If accepting the fact that you were going to die in an explosion wasn't mentally traumatizing even for someone to be bothered then perhaps believing that everybody you cared about was going to die in the same horrific way was.

Everybody else seemed to have accepted that they had almost died, for a good cause, and were just happy to be alive and with one another. Leo? Leonardo didn't seem to be able to come to the same terms as his brothers.

"Do you remember when we came here right after the Shredder blew up April's shop?" Alex asked.

His reply was a simple nod of the head.

"Do you remember what we talked about that night?" All she received was a shrug. "The _shell_ you don't! You remember that night as well as I do. It was the night we talked about my brothers and how I couldn't trade place with them. That you wouldn't let me. You remember that?"

"Yeah," he finally said.

"You said that we'd make everything right and you were absolutely right," she said. "You said that because I was family that my business was your business too. Well, Leo, you're my _best friend_. And you're my _family_. That means you come to me with anything. You said it yourself on my birthday; you know you can talk to me about anything, right? No matter what it is, I'm here."

"I'm fine," he insisted. "Nothing you need to worry about."

"You said the same thing the night you came to my room after helping Angel get her brother back," Alex said. "And as I recall, you really needed someone to talk to that night. And when you left, you were in a much better state of mind. So, Leo," she moved his head to look at her again, "_talk_ to me."

He glared down at her and pushed her aside. She bumped into the wall, hitting the bruise and stab wound she had on her back. She ignored the pain as best she could and watched Leo go upstairs, right past Master Splinter who had been listening to everything they had said. Alex sighed and dejectedly sat down on the couch.

"Give him time, Alexandra," Splinter said from his seat on the stairs. "It only just happened. He needs time to come to terms with what happened."

"I know," Alex said. "But I have a bad feeling about this, Master Splinter."

"As do I, dear," he said. "As do I."

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><p><em>Don't I look pretty<em>, Alex though sarcastically as she looked at her reflection in the full length mirror in the bathroom. She had just taken a shower with a great deal of care and effort to make sure she didn't injure herself further. She had to admit that as she looked at her bare skin that she looked like she went through hell and back.

Alex's red hair was pulled back, showing the large black and blue bruise on the right side of her face we well as the bruise around her neck from where the Shredder had nearly strangled her and right under her chin where Kurai had kicked her. The rest of her wasn't much better. She had several bruises the size of Kurai's foot all over her body. There was one on her right shoulder, on her collar bone, in the center of her chest. She also had two other footprints from when they had been attacked in the tunnel; one on the back and one on stomach. The worst was the stab wounds to her stomach. There were too gashes on her stomach from the Shredder's claws. She was lucky they didn't go all the way through her. If they had, it would have severed her spin. She had gotten extremely lucky.

"April?" Alex called from the bathroom. "Where did you put the new wrappings we bought?"

She didn't get a reply. Alex opened the door and stuck her head out. She found nobody in the living room. "April?" Alex called out again. A second later the door opened and April and Casey walked in from outside. "April?

"Yeah Alex?" April asked, walking over to the bathroom door.

Alex looked at her for a moment. "Did I miss something?"

April rolled her eyes and huffed. She crossed her arms and leaned most of her weight to one foot. "You have no idea," she admitted. "I'll tell you later."

"Can you tell me and help me wrap my wounds?" she asked. "I can do it on my own if you're busy, but it's kind of hard to not reopen the wound though."

"No problem," she said, her gaze softening.

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><p>By the time Alex was done downstairs with April, the rest of the guys were already asleep upstairs. She quietly made her way around the room, checking to make sure that everybody was comfortable and safe, sleeping soundly.<p>

It was hard to see everybody in rough conditions. The triplets and Fred were still unconscious. Master Splinter was a walking torched bag of hair. Mikey had broken legs. Don broke an arm. Raph could barely move and Leo, well, Alex thought a lot of Leo's wounds weren't the visible kind.

Alex stopped when she got to Leo and glanced down at him. She didn't move to pull the blanket up to cover him more or to tenderly touch the side of his face because she knew he was a lot like her. He would wake up and attack.

She opted to knee down beside his bed for a moment though. She looked at his sleeping face and found that he didn't look like he normally did when he slept. Normally he looked peaceful. Ad she looked at his green features, all Alex could think about was how much in pain and angry he looked. He looked exactly the same when he was awake.

Alex knew that pain all too well. It wasn't enough that life was sometimes a nightmare for them. It had to follow them into their sleep as well, haunting them. Hunting them down until they were so tired that they couldn't properly function.

It was no way to live and Alex knew that Leo wouldn't be able to go on very long like this. He was so angry. It reminded her of Raph in a lot of ways, but it was different too. Raph got angry a lot, but there was something about the air around Leo felt so tense and hostile. She didn't like it. It honestly scared her.

She had to help Leo. He had helped her through so much; him and him brothers were part of the reason she began training again after her parents died, he helped her deal with the fact that her brothers were working for the Shredder and helped to get them back.

_Oh, Leo_. Alex sighed. _Tell me what's wrong_. _I can't help you if you don't let me._

She realized that was what she was scared of. She was afraid Leo wouldn't let anybody in to help him deal with whatever it was that was brothering him. And if he didn't he would be lost to them.

Alex didn't know what she would do if she didn't have Leo. And she made a vow to herself, in that moment, that she wouldn't let that happen. She couldn't let Leo get lost because if Leo was lost, so was everybody else.


	3. The People's Choice

Here we are! I'm always impatient when it comes to posting these on a schedule. I mean, I jus couldn't wait to post it until SUNDAY! UH! So I caved and here it is! Hope you guys like it!

Thanks go out to the following for reviewing the previous chapter:  
><em><strong><span>TMNTluckygirl <span>**_- Awwww, I know. I always want to give him a hug when he's like this.  
><strong><em><span>dream lighting<span> _**- I think you'll like the answer to when the boys wake up. ;) But you'll have to see about if Leo opens up to Alex or not. And yes, 2007 movie WILL be a part of this Alex's series. I don't know about the 2014 one yet. If I DID do it, it would have to be a whole separate Alex story, from scractch. (If you can't tell, I always have Alex in the TMNT things I write though you most likely don't know about all the other things I have in the works with TMNT/ALex in other universes, like 2012 and whatnot.)  
><strong><em><span>NYCelt<span> _**- You always think my chapters are amazing. Are there any you DON"T like. Not that I'm complaining, I aim to please!  
><strong><em><span>StillDoll13 <span>_**- I could NOT have put that any better myself. You are so spot on with that description that it's kind of scary, but it just proves how good of a writer and interpretter you are. And yes, it is very EVANESCENT, isn't it. AHAHAH ;)  
><strong><em><span>Kat093 <span>_**- I guess we'll just have to see about that, won't we? It's never that easy though, is it? Not with them, at least.  
><span><strong><em>erica. phoenix16 <em>**- You are very welcome!

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><p>Chapter 3<br>"The People's Choice"

It had been almost six weeks since they had arrived at the farm house. Six long, fairly care free weeks. Alex had gone back into the city at the end of June to turn in the homework John had brought to her and taken her finals and regents tests, having done fairly well. She had plenty of time to study and do work at the farm house, seeing as she couldn't do any training. She couldn't go for runs. The only thing she could do when the guys started to get on her nerves was do her homework or study.

It paid off in the end.

Her friends had freaked out when she showed up at the test. They all acted as if she had died and come back to life – which had almost happened. But she told them everything was find and that she was with April, Casey, the guys, HER BROTHERS and FRED, which they all took as a great shock. She just left out the fact that they had been in comas for the past month.

Ms. Parker was also extremely shocked when Alex walked in. The moment she noticed the young redhead, she let out a deep sigh and went over to talk to the girl. She had asked her if she was all right, fearing that she was extremely sick. She informed her teacher that she had just been in an accident and was advised by doctors to rest for almost two months, but had allowed her to go in for tests.

"That's such a relief," Parker has said. "You had me extremely worried, Alex!.I was tempted to track down Detective Blake and demand that he tell me if you were all right. However, _I'm_ not the detective so I had no idea of how to get into contact with him."

Alex, smirking the whole time, took out a sheet of paper from her notebook, scribbled something on it before handing it to the woman. "Here," she said. "Just in case you want to get in contact with him."

"Oh," Parker said, a deep red blush forming on her cheeks. "Uh, thank you? I'm not sure what I would use it for now that I know you're all right, though."

"Just keep it in case you have an emergency. John would be more than happy to help," Alex said. "Or you could just call him sometime; see if he'd like to get a drink or dinner. I'm sure he'd just be excited to hear from you."

"If I didn't know any better, Alex, I would think you're trying to set me up with the Detective,"

"Hm, that's an interesting thought," Alex chuckled, playing dumb. "Now that you brought it up, you two would look adorable together!"

"_Alex_," Parker said, trying to scold the girl. She had failed miserably though. She was blushing and smirking too much to be serious.

"Just a thought!"

After that final test, Alex had returned to the farmhouse with John (keeping it a secret that she had given Ms. Parker his number the whole way) to meet up with her boys. John, once again, had to return back to the city due to work, but she enjoyed the time she got to spend with him in the car, most of the time bickering about each other's task in music.

But overall, things were really starting to look up. Everybody's injuries were healing very nicely, if not already healed. All of Alex's bruises were gone. Her stab wound was almost completely gone as well. All that remained was the two large unattractive light and rather sensitive scars. Being in such a state allowed her to pick up training and doing more physical activities too, which was nice since it was now summer vacation

Which was why she was now resting on the front porch. She had just finished washing the van and was trying to dry herself off in the warm sun. Her black bikini was a great contrast to her pale skin. Her green eyes watched as the turtles packed their bags on the front lawn for their overnight camping trip. It was humors to see just how much food Mikey tried to pack away in his bag. And once his bag was full, see how much he could fit into the other's bags without getting caught.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Raph asked the girl.

"Yeah, I'm sure," she answered with a chuckle. "Someone has to hold the fort down and make sure Casey and April behave themselves!"

"Alex!" April gasped from the swing on the porch. Casey was sitting next to her, rubbing he back of his neck in embarrassment from the comment.

"What?" she joked.

"Don't you like camping?" Mikey asked.

"Looking at the stars out in the open? Yes," Alex said. "Sleeping on the cold, hard ground in the open air? No."

"What, afraid some bugs will come and crawl in your mouth and nose?" Raph teased.

"Ew," April groaned, thinking about that imagery.

"Says the turtles scared of cockroaches," Alex retorted.

"Hey, I'm not scared of anything!" he protested.

"Sure, Raphie," she laughed. "Deny it all you like. We all know it's true!"

"Why you little…"

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Don asked, trying to steer the topic in another direction to prevent a Raph Attack. "It'll be weird not having you with us."

"I'm fine," Alex said. She stepped off the porch and handed Don his sleeping bag. "You guys deserve some quality guy time. Plus, aren't you guys tired of me by now?"

"Never!" Mikey yelled. He picked her up from behind and tossed her over his shoulder. She spun her around, making her laugh and rather dizzy. Everyone else seemed to think it was funny too.

"Put me down, Mikey!"

"What are the magic words?"

"Please put me down?"

"What? No! Michelangelo is the awesomest, handsomest, spectacular Battle Nexus Champion there ever was!"

"No!" Alex said. "I am so not saying that."

"Say it or you go camping!"

"I don't think so!" Alex pinched a nerve in his harm, making it go limp. He dropped Alex, who rolled up to her feet. She dusted herself off and walked as if nothing had happened back to the porch. "You guys have a fun guy's night."

"All right then!" Don said. "If we're all set, we should be heading out. We want to get camp set up before it gets dark."

"Bye guys," Alex told them. "Stay safe." Before Leo made it passed her though, she gently grabbed his arm and took him to the side of the porch for a little privacy.

Leo had been an enigma their entire stay at the farmhouse. For the most part, he remained secluded, staring out windows. When he had to be around everybody else, he barely talked. Even when asked a direct question his answer normally was a shrug, a nod or a single word reply. It was driving everybody, specifically Alex, to the brink of snapping at the leader.

Alex had repeatedly tried to get Leo to talk about what was going on. After a while she stopped trying. Instead she tried to just talk to him; tried to get him back into a little bit more of a state of normalcy. All of her effort was wasted however. Leo just wouldn't open up to anybody. It was almost like he didn't want to be around them at all.

This Leo scared her.

"What?" he asked.

"Try and relax with your brothers, Leo," Alex told him, her hand resting gently on his upper arm. "You're on vacation."

Leo shook his head with narrowed eyes. The leader turned to leave, but Alex reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it reassuringly like she had done so many times before. She pulled him back just enough where he as now facing her, but when he looked at her, all she could see were hollow eyes.

"Leo," she started to say.

Words seemed to fail her though. Talking to Leo wasn't like it used to be. This was forced, pleading. Leo used to be so easy to talk to. He was fun and funny and playful for the most part. Now? He barely looked at her. It made her wonder if she had done something wrong to anger him. But what could she have done to get him so angry at everybody?

Finally Alex settled on, "You have to spend as much time with them as you can, Leo. You don't know how precious that time is until they're gone." That seemed to get him. "Trust me. I _know_." He relaxed just slightly, but before Alex could really comprehend what happened, he put up his wall again. "Try and have fun with them, for me. _Please_?"

Leo looked around the corner where his brothers were goofing around. Alex expected him to pull away from her again, but he surprised her when he didn't. He nodded his head slightly, almost to the point where Alex couldn't tell. She knew she hadn't imagined it when he gave her hand the slightest of squeezed before releasing her hand.

Alex leaned against the side of the house and watched them go. Three of the brothers were goofing around and talking as the walked away. The last was trailing behind, studying the environment with a glare.

A sigh escaped her lips. _Where have you gone, Leo?_ she asked herself. She shook her head and headed into the house. _Wherever you've gone, Leo, come back soon. We miss you._

xXx

It had been a long time since Alex had really gotten to sit down and read a book. She absolutely loved to read. It relaxed her physically, excited her mentally and didn't involve too much effort. It was exactly the kind of thing she needed that night. She was laying in her bed with her back up against the headboard, book in hand.

Master Splinter was sitting in the middle of the room on the furry brown rug meditating. Alex made sure to turn the pages of the book softly to not disturb the Master in his peaceful state. She knew she found it annoying when there was a lot going on around her when she meditated, even though she could ignore it.

_"It turned out a good thing that night that they had brought little Bilbo with them, after all. For, somehow, he could not go to sleep for a long while; and when he did sleep, he had very nasty dreams. He dreamed that a crack in the wall at the wider, and he was very afraid but could not call out or do anything but lie and look. Then he dreamed that the floor of the cave was giving way, and he was slipping – beginning to fall down, down, goodness knows where to."_ Alex heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She glanced over her book to find Casey looking over the railing, debating whether or not to actually enter or not. She raised an eyebrow at that. Why was he so nervous? She shrugged it off and looked back down to her book.

_"At that he woke up with a horrible start, and found that…"_

Casey cleared his throat and stood at the top of the stairs, waiting to be told to enter. Alex looked up from her book, curious as ever. Casey was really acting weird. Or weirder than normal.

"Come in," Master Splinter told him.

"Yo, Master Splinter," Casey started to say, "you're like, wise and all that kind of stuff. I need some advice. What do you do if you got feelings for somebody and you just want to tell them something really important, but you don't know how to do it?"

"I am not an expert in such matters, but I am sure you should simply be yourself and trust your instincts," Master Splinter said.

"Uh, Master Splinter, it's me we're talking about here," Casey said.

_He has a point_, Alex thought.

"Hm, yes, I see," Splinter said. "Then perhaps a large breakfast served in bed with flowers. I think flowers. Yes, many flowers."

"Great! Thanks, Master Splinter," Casey told him.

He left, leaving Alex smirking at what just happened. _Did Casey just ask Master Splinter for romantic advice? _She couldn't believe it. She shrugged thinking: _Well, it was good advice,_ before looking back down at the book.  
><em>"At that he woke up with a horrible start, and found that…"<em>

"Many, many flowers," Alex heard Master Splinter mutter to himself as he continued meditating.

Alex had to put her hand over her mouth to prevent herself from laughing.

xXx

The next morning Alex got up early, before Master Splinter was up and went out into the woods to get some wild flowers. Once she ground some pretty yellow ones, she picked them and went back to the house. She put them in water and then went upstairs. She found Master Splinter still asleep and put the flowers on the bedside table.

Alex smiled and desperately hoped he would like them. Master Splinter was always there to help her and everybody else and she wanted to do something, despite how small, to try and show him that they, or Alex, appreciated everything he did. He was like a father to her too. He didn't have to be, he already had four children of his own to look after, but he trusted and cared for her as if she were one of his own.

Once she placed them there, Alex went back to her bed and resumed where she had left off in her book the night before.

_"That night he was very miserable and hardly slept. Next day the dwarves all went wandering off in various directions; some were exercising the ponies down below, some were roving about the mountain-side. All day Bilbo sat gloomily in the grassy bay gazing at the…"_

"_Uh_."

Alex stopped mid-sentence because she thought she heard something. She looked over the top of her book once more and glanced around the room, but she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Her brothers and Fred were still unmoving on their beds; Master Splinter was still in a restful slumber. She knew that Casey and April were both still asleep, she had checked on them not too long after entering the house after getting the flowers. She eventually just shrugged and took up reading once more.

"_All day Bilbo sat gloomily in the grassy bay gazing at the…"_

"_Uh._"

Alex quickly sat up, tossing the book to her side. She definitely heard it that time. She got off the bed and checked Master Splinter first. He was still asleep. Next was Nathan and Zack. Both were still silent and as still as could be. Marcus was at the far end of the room and hadn't moved whatsoever. Finally, Alex got to Fred and looked at him carefully. He didn't look like he had moved either.

Alex growled frustrated. She had no idea where the noise was coming from. If it wasn't coming from the room, where was it coming from? _Unless_…Alex's eyes widened when that though crossed her mind. _Unless Casey did get up and make April breakfast and things went a little too well._ She shivered. _Oh, that is just so disturbing to think about!_

"_Uh_."

Alex jumped when the body next to her groaned. Her first thought was: Oh_, thank God it's not Casey and April!_ She then moved a little closer to Fred and sat down on the side of his bed. "Fred?" Alex asked.

His closed eyes went from relaxed to clamped before going back to soft. His lips were parted ever so slightly in order to get the noise out of his mouth.

"Fred?" she asked again, running her hand over his forehead and cheek to make sure that something wasn't wrong like a fever. "Can you hear me?"

"_Uh_."

She took that as a yes. "Can you do that again for me?" He groaned. He was doing it on command, which meant he was aware of his surroundings for the most part. "Are you in pain?" No noise. "Are you in pain?" Nothing. She decided to see if she could get him to do anything else.

"Can you open your eyes?" she asked.

Fred's eyes slowly opened and stared aimlessly around the room, trying to focus. After several minutes his eyes finally landed on Alex sitting beside him. His eyes connect with Alex's who was beaming down at the boy that had once been her best friend. She laughed with joy. He was awake! One of them was awake!

"Hey," she greeted. "Long time no see, Freddy."

"Lex?" he managed to get out.

"Do you want some water?"

He managed to move his head ever so slightly, which if Alex didn't know how hard it was for him to move it or if he had just done it without a question, she wouldn't have been able to tell it was a yes. But she did. She quickly got up, ran downstairs and got a glass of water. She brought it back up to him and gently set him up. She put the glass to his lips and he drank if very carefully.

"Better?" she asked.

He nodded his head with much more ease this time. "Thanks," he got out.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"Could be better," he told her.

"I'll take it though," Alex said, putting her hand on his arm. "It's so good to have you back, Fred. We've all been worried sick about you guys."

Fred glanced around the room, taking note of Alex's brothers and the large sleeping rat. "Where are we?"

"At a friend's country house," she informed him. "We came out here after our final showdown with Shredder to heal up."

"When?" he asked.

"We've been here about six weeks," she told him.

"Six weeks?" he repeated.

"Yeah," Alex said. She smiled, making sure he knew that there was nothing to worry about. "It took longer for you guys to wake up because of how long you were under the effects of the Utrom rays."

He looked worried. "The Shredder?"

Alex smiled widely. "Gone," she told him. "He's being imprisoned on an asteroid. He's not coming back. You guys are free."

"We are?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "I told the guys I'd get you guys back."

"Alex, I'm so sorry," he said. "I never meant to hurt you. That was never my intent. I just wanted to be able to do things you could relate to. I didn't know that Shredder was who he was."

"Hey, hey, hey," she hushed. "It's okay, Fred. I know. I talked to your mom a while back. I've already gotten the whole story."

"But I hurt you," he said. "I hurt your friends."

"We're all okay," she said. _For the most part_. "There's nothing to worry about. Now that you're awake, you can go home soon. You can see your mom again."

"I'm sorry." Tears were streaming down his cheeks. Alex had never seen Fred cry before. Not even when he broke his leg in three places when they were in fifth grade. "I'm so sorry."

"Come here," she said. She pulled him into her arms and held him tightly, trying to make him feel better. "It's going to be all right. I promise."

She just hoped that would be true all around.


	4. Family Business

I know the last couple of chapters were short, but hey, they're chapters! And the next one will most likely be longer. This chapter's mainly Alex and her brothers. Hope you guys like, please review!  
>Also, for all of the American (or even if you're not) football fans HAPPY SUPERBOWL! I don't want either team to win, I don't like either, but whatever, my team sucks (but they're my team so GO BILLS!). But may your evenings be filled with pizza, wins and funny commercials.<p>

_**NYCelt**_- Aw, thank you! Yes! I've been reading The Hobbit, so I figured I'd put it in, that and it was the closest book to me at the time. ;) And I guess you'll just have to wait and see about the love trouble. _**  
>Stilldoll13 - <strong>_Yes, Leo does still love them. There are a couple moments when he's more like his old self, like when he interacts with Mikey after the rematch at the Battle Nexus. But I totally get what you're saying.  
><em><strong><span>Kat093<span>**_-I'm so glad you liked it!  
><em><strong><span>dream lighting<span>**_- One of your questions shall be answered! And I can't wait for the 2007 movie. I have so many plans for it!  
><em><strong>Erica. phoenix16<strong>_ - You are very welcome.  
><em><strong><span>TMG4899<span>**_ - I'm glad you liked it.

* * *

><p>Chapter 4<br>"Family Business"

Alex's vacation in the country didn't last much longer after Fred, and her brothers the day following, woke up. The comatose boys quickly regained their health and their strength. Not too long after waking up, they were up and about, training with the rest of the group, getting to know each other.

The brothers were much more open to getting to know the guys than Alex originally thought they would be. Perhaps it was because of how much Alex trusted them, and how much they realized they helped her through the toughest situations, partially caused by their disappearance, as well as coming to let go of their parents' death.

Fred was another story all together. It wasn't that he was really rude to the guys, it was more like he was just a little bit hesitant to get to know them. He had a hard time accepting the fact that when Alex had been hanging out with them, when they were still in school together, that she was going out to hang with teenage mutant ninja turtles.

She had told her friends that they most likely wouldn't understand her new friends.

It was kind of annoying how much he went out of his way to avoid having to interact with them though. It kind of made her angry and disappointed in him. Even John hadn't been that bad and Alex had seriously blown up on him when he accused them of cause all of Alex's injuries from everything they've been though.

Alex was just trying to calm down though. She had to think of how Fred felt too. He wasn't home. He had been through so much. He had been forced to fight against his best friend, hurting her on many occasions. Now he was hanging with the people had had been forced to fight against? It was a lot to take in.

So when it came time for Alex to leave with her brothers, Fred by ride of Detective John Blake, Alex was rather relieved that she wouldn't have to deal with all of the awkward silences when Fred and everybody had to interact.

Alex left early from their vacation in order to help get the guys back up and integrated into society. Her brothers wanted to reopen their family's dojo, though in a new building seeing as the old one had too many bad memories. Alex didn't blame them for that. So she went along to help her brothers, as well as to support them with the whole death-in-absentia business they had to get taken care of.

Thank heavens John was helping them come up with an excuse. Though now that Oroku Saki was ousted as being a bad guy it wouldn't have been so difficult for anybody to believe that they had been kidnapped by him. They just went with the safer route and came up with another kidnapping story.

John also got along very well with her brothers. When they found out John had been looking out for Alex while they were "gone" they would not stop thanking him, even went as far as to invite him over for dinner once they got a place to live (this took them only several days to find, including a new place for a dojo, which seemed very unrealistic to them with the way the NYC real estate market was).

While she was busy helping her brother set up their business, Alex also ran the shop while April was gone. She figured that since she was already there she may as well earn them some money. They had already been off so much since they were up in the Hampton. April's only employee was Alex so they could use the money.

Alex also stayed in touch with everything that was going on with everybody when she left as well, making sure to call almost every night, which was kind of annoying to April since she was using up most of her minutes. But it eased Alex a little bit to know what was going on. After everything they had gone through, it was the lease April could do to ease her niece's nerves.

Plus, Alex was still extremely worried about Leo. It didn't help when one of the topics that was brought up with April was about Leo.

"_You should have heard what Leo told me, Alex_," April said. "_I feel so bad for him_."

"What'd he say?" Alex asked. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"_Relax, Alex_," she said. "_And doesn't something always happen? They took care of it. Nothing to worry about. What I'm talking about is that_ _I asked Leo if anything was wrong and he finally said what it was_."

Alex interrupted her before she could tell her what he really said. "He told you?" she asked. "Why wouldn't he tell me? We tell each other everything."

"_Alex, he feels responsible for the fact you guys almost blew yourselves up,_" she said. "_He believes that he wasn't a good enough leader, that he failed all of you_."

"What?" Alex asked in disbelief. "No, but that's not right. Nothing we could have done would have changed what happened. It wasn't his fault that was our only option. We all knew the risks. We all agreed that was what had to be done."

"_But_ _put yourself in his position_," April said. "_I don't blame him for thinking that way. I would if I were him. How would you feel if you sent your brothers to their deaths?_"

Alex sighed. She hadn't sent her brothers to their deaths, but they had given up their freedom in order for her to keep her's. If Leo felt a fraction of how bad Alex had felt, he had to be completely shattered and in so much pain. It explained his resent change in character. She understood it all now. She didn't necessarily agree or approved of this thinking, but she understood. Maybe it would allow her to better figure out a way to help him see that it wasn't really his fault.

"_He_ _seemed particularly upset that you would have died too_," April pointed out. "_I mean, killing his family was tormenting enough, but someone that wasn't blood? Someone that may or may not have had to be there at all?_"

"My God," Alex sighed.

"Hey, Alex!" Marcus called from the back closet of the new dojo. "Can you come give us a hand with this?"

"Be right there!" Alex called back, placing her hand over the receiver to prevent the volume of her voice from defining April. She then put the phone back to her ear and said, "I've got to go, but thanks for telling me this, April. I really appreciate it."

"_Don't mention it_," April said. "_Really, don't tell Leo I told you. I just figured you of all people would be able to help him feel better._"

"Right," she said. "I'll see you when you guys get back next week."

"Are you talking to April?" Zack asked.

"Yes," Alex answered.

"Tell her we all say hello," Nathan said.

"The guys say hello," Alex told her.

April laughed. "_Tell_ _them hi and that I love them. Now goodbye, Alex. I love you_."

"Love you too," Alex replied. Alex hung up the phone and slipped it into her pocket as she went to help her brothers carry out a large training dummy. "April sends her love," she told them.

"How is everybody?" Nathan asked.

"Fine," Alex said. "Everything's normal. Or as normal as it gets with us."

"We've definitely got interesting lives," Marcus said.

"Yup," Zack said. "What were the chances all of this stuff happened to just us?"

"Don't say things like that!" Alex scolded. "It's a jinx."

"But things are settling down now," Nathan said. "Things can't get more hectic than what's already happened."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Alex said. "I mean, my best friends are teenage mutant ninja turtles. I'm basically a vigilante. And we're opening up a martial arts dojo at the ages of sixteen and nineteen."

"Well, I hope it stays relatively normal," Nathan said. "Once we get enough money with this business, I want to go to college."

"And I want to go to California," Zack said.

"Why?" Alex asked the youngest triplet.

"I don't know," he answered. "California's happening!"

"You are so weird," Alex muttered, shaking her head.

"Not as weird as you," Zack retorted.

"How am I weird?" Alex asked.

"Uh, I don't know," Nathan started sarcastically, "you're a teenage ninja that hangs out with mutant turtles more than you do humans."

Alex just shrugged. It was true. She did hang out with the guys more than she did humans. "Okay, maybe you have a point."

"Maybe?" Marcus joked. "Little Sis, you're the weirdest O'Neil there is!"

Alex just stuck her tongue out at her oldest brother.

"Oh, that's mature," Nathan said.

"Fine, you want mature?" Alex asked. "Let's talk business."

"Business?" Zack asked. "What kind of business?"

"_Our_ business," Alex clarified. "Obviously we're going to be teaching martial arts, but I think we should have other classes for different things too."

"That's a good idea," Marcus said.

"Like what?" Zack asked.

"I don't know," Alex thought. "Maybe a yoga class to appeal to a larger clientele?"

"Or kickboxing," Marcus added.

"Yeah," Alex said.

"That's a really good idea," Nathan said. "A smart business plan."

"Thank you," Alex said.

"Hey," Zack said, "can we get pizza for dinner?"

* * *

><p>Also, there is now a twitter page to let you know when I update if you're into that thing. It's RJNorth_Fanfics.<p> 


	5. I, Monster

I was home sick today so I had some time to finish this. I know it's been a while, and this chapter isn't exactly the best, but it's a chapter! Hope you guys like it.

Thanks go out to the following for their reviews:  
><em><strong><span>StillDoll13:<span>**_ I really want to try cardio kickboxing now. I looked it up and I agree, it looks painfully fun. But I also want to start doing yogo...no time for anything!  
><em><strong><span>NYCelt<span>**_: I know, poor Leo. I hate how much he's hurt in this part of the series.  
><em><strong><span>dream lighting:<span>**_ She knew it was coming because Fred woke up. This gives a little more incite on what happened when Alex left, but she doesn't go back. But she does spend time with the guys so I think we're all good!  
><em><strong>erica. phoenix16:<strong>_You are very welcome.

* * *

><p>Chapter 5<p>

"I, Monster"

The Turtles, Master Splinter, Casey and April all returned a week after Alex found out from April what was bothering Leo. It was another week after their return that Alex finally got to finally hang out with the turtles. Starting up the business was hard work and it was taking up a lot of Alex's free time, as well as working at The 2nd Time Around _and_ starting her senior year that week. Everything just seemed to fall on the same week.

But that Saturday Marcus and Zack were in charge of the classes and Alex had the night off from the antique store. Raph had gotten in contact with Alex and asked her if she wanted to go out with them for a training/game night, which completely intrigued the girl. She really wanted a night out with her terrapins! Oh, and Casey…

Alex had no idea what they were doing, but it had to be better than sitting in her room doing homework all night. No, the homework can wait until Sunday.

"Hey guys," Alex greeted. "Long time no see!"

"Alex!" Mikey yelled. The orange masked ninja ran over to the girl and hugged her tightly. He lifted her off the ground and swung her in a circle.

"Okay, okay. I missed you too," Alex laughed. "Now put me down, Mikey!"

"Hi, Alex!" Don greeted. He too hugged the red haired girl, but not as enthusiastically as Michelangelo had. "How are you? How's the business?"  
>"Everything's going great!" Alex enthused. "We just started doing classes this week and we've gotten a lot of people come in. It's really cool, but so much work."<p>

"Those boys aren't giving you too much trouble, are they?" Raph asked.

"Nah," Alex said. "I can handle them, plus I'm still living at April's so I don't have to be with them all the time."

"How about that Fred guy?" Mikey asked.

"He's good, I guess," Alex said. "When we got back he kind of spent most of his time with his mom. I saw him a couple times at school this week though. We talked a little, had lunch together with some of my other friends. He's just trying to get back into the swing of things, I think."

"And how are you adjusting to all the change?" Don asked.

"I'm fine," Alex answered. "Busy, but it's fun. I miss my Terrapin Time though. Speaking of which, what are we doing here?"

"Is it perfect of what?" Casey asked.

"I reiterate," Alex said. "What are we doing here?"

"Used to take the train out here after school to rain some uh, you know, to get away from it all," Casey said.

"Bull s-" Alex started to say, but was cut off.

"I didn't know there were any places like this left in the boroughs. Room to move, shadows everywhere to hide in," Don said.

"It's like a ninja playground!" Mikey exclaimed.

"What do you think, Leo?" Casey asked.

Leo was standing ahead of the group, back turned to them with his shoulders tense, arms crossed. "We're losing daylight. Let's get training."

Alex's smile fell. Her eyes softened as she stared at the knot in the back of Leo's mask. _Oh Leo_, she sighed. She had talked to April more about what Leo had told her and found out that their conversation had been interrupted. He hadn't said enough to get the burden off his shoulders and Alex knew it. _You have to talk to someone, Leo. You can't stay like this forever._

"Yes, Sir! Mr. Sunshine, Sir!" Raph replied sarcastically.

The fence around the facility was easily jumped by most (Casey) and the group made their way farther into the old abandoned factory district. Alex was getting weird feelings from the place. She kept looking around her, feeling her gut drop at the oddest of places. She couldn't see anything wrong with the place though. Unless there were evil mole creatures digging under their feet (though she wouldn't shove that thought away with their luck) she was just jumpy about the creep factor the place had.

"All right, we ready to play?" Mikey asked.

"What's this screwy game called again?" Casey asked.

"Yeah, that little bit of info was left out of my invitation," Alex added.

"It's called Stealth Hunter," Mikey said. "Yours truly is the Stealth Master! I get thirty seconds head start and then you guys start hunting!"

"Picture capture the flag ninja style," Don said. "He'll be wearing a bandana that we have to take from him. So far, none of us have been able to protect the bandana for longer than fifteen minutes."

"Oh, I am _so_ going to introduce this game to my bros," Alex said, rubbing her hands together. Her gut dropped and she instantly turned her head to the left. She saw nothing. I_ could have sworn I saw something over there…_

"But then none of you is Michelangelo, Battle Nexus Champion! And he who moves like the shadow!"

Alex resisted the urge to hit him because she was too focused on the factory to her left. Something was really messing with her senses there! She couldn't keep her focus on one area for more than five freakin' seconds! It was like whatever was messing with her was everywhere at once, which couldn't have been possible, right? Nothing could be everywhere at once.

"Ow!"

Alex's attention snapped back to her group when she heard Mickey cry out in pain. She saw him reach out and grab the bandana quickly getting out, "One, two three go!" before running off. "Clocks ticking, bros! Catch me if you can!"

The redhead smirked, excited to start playing the game. The guys ran off after Mikey and Alex was just about to go with them, but she stopped feeling something to her left. She could see into one of the old builds and she believed to see something that looked like a man's figure. She narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out just what exactly she was seeing.

"Hey, guy? Did you se-" Alex started to asked, but then realized everybody was gone. She turned her head back to the figure just in time to see them bolt.

_Okay_, Alex thought. _Something weird is going on._ She changed direction and bolted into the building, following after the figure. _The guys can have their game. I'm going to play tag with this guy_. Alex didn't know. She felt uneasy as she chased after him, but she was still getting other feelings from the opposite direction.

Alex followed the guy onto the roof, then into one of the holes in the roof, landing on a beam in the area below. She dropped down, catching a glimpse at the guy that remained unmoving for a minute. He was looking at something, but it was extremely dark and Alex was having a hard time making out anything below her.

When she looked back up, the man was on the move. She had to push herself faster than she normally went in order to keep track of him. He was incredibly fast and from the heights he was jumping to and from, very strong. The skills were almost abnormally good. Alex was good herself, and she was having a difficult time keeping up with the character.

Alex followed the guy in and out of building, seeing the guys several times running on the ground looking for Mikey. Alex narrowed her eyes, glaring in confusion at the guy. _What are you doing? Following them? But why? What's your problem?_

"Let's spilt up and find that chowder-head," Alex could just make out Raph said.

_Oh that's just going to make more problems, isn't it?_ Alex asked herself. _We always have to make things harder for ourselves, even when we don't even know we're doing it!_

Alex landed on a rooftop and looked around. She had lost the guy! She turned around, swearing she had seen the guy land there. But where was he? Then there was movement in the corner of her eye. She saw a shadow jump through one of the broken windows on the building across from her.

_ I've got you_, Alex thought as she ran and jumped the gap, rolling before she got to her feet. She jumped down through a hole in the ceiling. She landed just a couple feet from the guy, who had been looking out the window at Casey. She could also see Leo looking in at where the figure was standing from another window. _Well, at least I'm not the only one that see's the guy_.

The guy moved quickly, jumping down to the ground floor. Alex followed him down and across the lot, into another building. He ran ahead of her, and for a moment she lost him, until she sat him jump up into the rafters. Alex jumped up after him, following shortly behind as they entered the room Mikey was in.

"Leo? Raph? You know I'm supposed to be the stealth guy here, right? Right? Anybody there?"

Alex dropped down from the ceiling in a defensive position. She had seen the guy jump around Mikey, intimidating him. He hadn't done that with the rest of the guys. That had to mean he was going to attack, right? It was the only thing Alex could think of that made sense.

"Alex? You're the one doing this?" Mikey asked.

"No," she told him, glancing around the rafters for the guy. "But I've been following the guy that is the whole time."

"So there's someone hunting us?" he asked, taking out his nun chucks.

"Yeah, and I don't think they're playing by the games rules either."

As if proving her point, a second after Alex said that, Mikey and her were hit over the back of the heads, knocking them unconscious.

* * *

><p>"Who the shell are you?" Alex heard Mikey say as she slowly came back into consciousness.<p>

The first thing her eyes fell on was the tall, Frankenstein built kind of man. He was wrapped in bandages and had pieces of him missing, like his right cheek. He also had a robotic eye and robotic shoulders. He laughed manically.

Mikey laughed with him before adding, "No, seriously, dude!"

The guy slammed his hands down on either side of Mikey's head threateningly. Alex squirmed, trying to get out of her restraints. She could hear squealing from the other room getting louder. When a large swarm of rats started to scurry into the room, Alex instantly realized that they had been what she had been sensing before. The rats were a threat and they were everywhere.

"Um, freaky psycho guy? I-Ah!"

"Okay, I thought I was okay with rats because of Master Splinter, but yeah. No. I'm not." Alex wiggled, trying to get her hands and feet free, but no matter how hard she tried to get out, she couldn't pull hard enough. "Yeah, I really don't want to get eaten by rats."

"Focus, Mikey," Mike said. "Block out the rats. The scary, hungry, turtle and human eating-ah!"

"Not helping, Mike!" Alex squealed. One of her hands gave a small pop. "Ow, ow, ow."

"What that your hand?" Mikey asked.

"My thumb," she informed him, pulling her hand out of the restraint. "I dislocated my thumb." She put her thumb in her mouth and held it, moving her hand to pop her thumb back into place, groaning when it did. She then unlocked her other hand and then feet.

Before she could make her way over to unlock Mikey, he broke his feet free and pulled the board off the wall, running as the rats tried to get onto the back of the board to reach him. She rolled her eyes, picking up her weapons that had been discarded by the man in the corner of the room, sweeping away the rats as she walked to make a path for herself. He eventually broke the board by hitting the wall, but the rats still jumped him.

"Get them off of me! Get them off of me!" he yelled, finding the exit.

"Mikey!" she heard several people yell as he ran out.

Alex followed him out calmly, putting her weapons away. "Alex, where have you been?" Casey asked.

"Oh, you know, chasing after creepers that have been following us since we got here," she muttered casually. "Nothing new."

"Hey, Leo! We found-" Raph said, turning to tell Leo, but found Leo running off into the large old smoke stack. "Aw, shell!"

"Come on!" Don told them.

The group ran in after Leo, and stopped when they found Leo standing in the center, looking up at the man who was standing at the top of the stack.

"Not him again," Mikey groaned.

"Again?" Don asked.

"That's the freak-wad that tied me and Alex up and tried to feed us to the rats," Mike said.

"Yeah, I've been following him the whole game," Alex said.

The man pulled a rope which closed the doors behind them, trapping them in. Through the many tiny holes in the structure, they could heard the little chirps and squeals from the rats. Their beady little red eyes staring at them.

"They're only rats," Casey stated. "How bad can this be?"

"Uh, Casey?" Mike said, pointing down to the ground where several human bones were resting.

"Okay, that's just gross," Alex said.

"Let's try the door!" Raph said, pushing against it.

"No good," Mikey said as he gave up helping.

"Get away from the walls," Leo instructed. "Now!"

"Easy rodents," Mikey said. "Nice rodents. Have I mentioned by sensei was a rat? Master Splinter? Any relatives here with us today?"

"Mike, you aren't going to get anywhere talking to them!" Alex told him, using her swords to it the ground, making them back up. _Hm_, she thought. _This could work._

"There must be hundreds," Don said. "We'll never take them all out at this rate."

"We don't have to," Leo said. "Just show them that we're one meal that's not worth the trouble."

Eventually, they got the rats to retreats.

"Turtle is off the menu," Raph said, kicking the last one.

Alex turned to Casey and asked, "Do you ever feel left out when they say things like that?"

"Yeah," he said. "I just chose to ignore it."

Alex shrugged and looked up when they guy started to yell angrily. He jumped off of the ledge and landed on his feet before them. Alex's eyes went wide_. Okay, he shouldn't have been able to do that. That was far too high up to jump from for a human to survive, even one like me._

Leo yelled and charged at the guy, engaging in battle. Alex's stance relaxed slightly, confused as Leo was the first to fight without thinking. That was normally Raph's job. It was just so unlike Leonardo to do anything without thinking it through.

She shook her head, snapping out of shock as she saw Leo get thrown to the ground. Casey ran in after him, followed by Raph. Raph got kicked in the stomach, while Casey was thrown into Don and Mikey as they moved in to fight.

Alex ran in next, slicing his, then low as the guy ducked her first attack. He went even lower and grabbed her foot, pulling it out from under her. Alex landed on her back, knocking the air out of her lungs. She gasped, trying desperately to get air into her lungs. Just as she was about to get some in, the guy stood up and stomped on her stomach, forcing the air out again. Alex groaned, rolling to her side as she clutched her stomach.

"Alex!" Leo yelled, getting back into the fight.

Alex was slightly out of it until she finally got air back into her lungs. Don went over to Alex, helping her up to her feet.

"The rats are coming back in!" Leo stated.

_Oh, you have got to be kidding me! Why can't we ever just have an easy night?_ Alex moved away from Don, picking up her sword again. She had to be ready to fight.

"Then it's time we busted out!" Raph yelled, running towards where Mikey was. Mikey dodged just in time for Raph to hit the wall, making a large enough hole for all of them to get out of.

"That's one way to make an exit," Alex said, holding her stomach.

"Nice going, Bro!" Mikey told the red masked turtle. "I always said you were as thick as a brick!"

Raph growled at his brothers comment, but turned his attention to more important matters. "What happened to ugly?"

As if on cue, the man yelled out, pulling them to look up and see he was standing on top of the stacks. He jumped from there to the rooftop of the building across from them.

"You've gotta admit," Mike said. "The dude has some sweet moves!"

"I've had enough of this madness!" Leo growled. He threw several ninja stars at him, all of which were locked except on, that stuck itself into his arm. It went completely unnoticed by him though, as if there was no pain in the injury at all.

The man laughed at Leo's failed attempt to stop him, but he wasn't laughing long. The ledge he was standing on gave out due to his weight and the throwing star. He fell backwards, through the unstable roof and through the floor.

"It's over," Leo said, walking away. "Let's get out of here."

Alex's gut dropped. She shook her head, looking at the other brothers. "I don't think its ov-"

The wall next to them exploded, sending debris everywhere. Alex got hit in the stomach with a large clump of brick, forcing her back to the ground, groaning in pain. Dust filled the area around them and Alec couldn't see anything, not even Raph who was laying on the ground right in front of her, or Don, who was actually on top of her left leg.

When the dust and dirt finally cleared, Alex was able to get up with Don's assistance. "Are you okay?" he asked, placing a hand on her stomach to make sure nothing was broken.

"I think so," Alex said. "Just some bruised ribs."

Don nodded his head and glanced back up, catching sight of Leo and the unknown man going into the nearby building. "Look!" Don yelled.

"Come on!" Raph instructed, leaning the way for them as they ran into the building after them.

"Leo!" Don yelled when they finally got in there. "He's mine!"

"Leo?" Alex muttered softly, eyes watching him in confusion. She had never seen him fight with such anger before. Not unless it was the Shredder.

"That guy's cracked, bro," Mikey said. "We can't leave Leo alone with him."

"We don't know the limits of his strength and skill," Don agreed. "Even with the six of us."

"If Leo gets in trouble, I'm the first one in there," Raph said, "but right now, it looks to me that Leo's got more than one monster to work out of his system."

"But this isn't the way to do that," Alex said.

Alex turned her back, unable to watch the fight. She couldn't stand seeing Leo fight like that. It wasn't him. It was some stranger fighting a cruel, angry battle. Leo was normally so fluid when he fought. It was beautiful. This wasn't. This was ugly, and Alex didn't want to dirty the image of him fighting like that to be what she imagined.

Her gut dropped once more. Her green eyes shot open and looked ground, not seeing anything. It wasn't until she heard the crumbling noise that she turned to look out the window that she saw the stacks were collapsing right overtop of them.

"Guy, get out of the way!" Leo yelled.

The stacks crashed through the ceiling, caving it in and filling the building with dust. Alex coughed, waving a hand in front of her face to try to see and get some fresh air. A couple moment later, the dust was gone and Alex could see once more.

"Leo!" Mikey yelled, looking around for his brother. He went to step forward to go and look, but Don stopped him.

"Mikey, watch your step," Don said.

The stacks had left a large hole into the basement of the building. Below they could see thousands of hungry rats. Leo and the monster man were trapped on one little platform still standing.

"It's rat central!" Mikey stated.

"Leo, let's go!" Raph said.

Leo put his swords away and turned to jump. He gracefully landed on the ground the rest of them were standing on, leaving the other platform unstable. It wobbled and gave out, but monster man jumped, landing on Leo's shell. Leo wobbled and fell off of their ledge, screaming as Raph and Alex grabbed him.

Don grabbed onto the same arm Alex had and helped pull him and the monster up, but before the monster could do anything, Leo turned and knocked him off his back, sending down into the pit of rats.

"Can we go home now?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, I'm with Alex," Mikey said.

As they made their way back to the gates, Alex said, rubbing her hand on her bruised stomach, "That was officially the second worse game night I have ever experienced."

"Second?" Casey asked. "What could possibly have been worse?"

Alex shivered. "Never, _ever_ mention twister to by brothers. _Ever_."

Once over the fence, Mikey looked down at his arm and noticed the bandana. "Hey, I still got the bandana on! It's been, what, forty-five minutes, easy! I am the stealthiest, heavy weight ninjaesk ninja turtle of all time."

Raph pulled the bandana off his arm and smacked him with it.

"Ow!"


End file.
